Chapter 17: First Day of School
"You're requesting a change in your schedule for-let me see…"
Riné and Mime patiently waited in a seat in front of an elderly lady with small reading glasses as she slowly and shakily grabbed their schedules reading them.
"Kenn's PE class. Personal reasons that would disrupt the school environment."
Mime was careful in his wording as he explained. He didn't want to lose the chance to have his class swapped from a mere personal dispute, but he also didn't want to downplay it. Riné leaned forward curious about the extent of his student council position.
"Does the student council or special admission have the option to request student class changes?"
"Oh, hm yes! I can change your class Mr Verocai but the other, Mr Valle you'll have to wait for a schedule change request to go through."
Mime's expresión fell as he knew the torture the instructor would give him would be tantamount to abuse. Riné contemplated this for a second before objecting.
"Don't change my class instantly and simply send a class change request."
Mime felt touched as he held Riné into a hug the other struggled to escape.
"Riné I'll follow you forever even if we die here!"
The lady was not amused as she filed some papers the two were sent off as they sat outside disappointed.
"The school system is always flawed everywhere boo. Well, Riné ready for tomorrow?"
Riné was not amused with Mime as he walked away to head to his dorm. Mime followed behind calling to Riné before shutting his mouth and enjoying the sights. The bustle of students walking around and the freedom struck the two. For many, this was the first time having autonomy in their lives in this controlled space as the different walkways had maps and locations to choose from the two took some time touring around before stopping at the student dorm area. Riné turned toward Mime with a dismissive look.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight..? It's barely past noon what are you planning on doing?"
Mime's head turned wondering what on earth Riné could be doing for the rest of the day to not leave their room as Riné answered simply as if it were natural for him in his life.
"Training."
Mime accepted this response as he also had his responsibilities to do for the day and to not bother the others all day. Walking into the building leaving Mime behind Riné found his way to the dorm hall where his room was as he opened the room to reveal a large room with two beds on separate sides. The walls were a pastel gray color and the roof was black almost giving the feeling of a castle's barracks with a window in the middle of the room letting in sunlight and a view of the outside of the student dorm building with a lackluster view.
'Well here's my stuff.'
Throwing a black bag onto the bed Riné laid down on the bed almost sinking into it as its comfort level surpassed his expectations before he reminded himself of his tasks for the day. Pulling from the bag the map he located the area of the private training area for students. A necessity for Seekers as solitude was essential for the efficiency of training and improvement. Not needing anything more than his map just in case he got lost Riné stood up leaving his luggage as he left the room toward the training area.
——
"Lock."
The gate behind him locked as he found himself in a walled-off area in the outdoors as large stone walls created a secluded space for one to train. In the middle of the space lay a concrete platform fifty by fifty feet in area as Riné sat in the middle expelling his mana.
"Ten-twenty-thirty-fourty-fifty."
As his wild mana flew into the air half of his stored mana was released as they began to take shape as chains of lightning orbs flew around threateningly. The air seemed to crack as lightning charged almost with autonomy as it moved through the air with ease.
'Compared to before I broke through to Commandante this level of tribulation is far stronger. Especially with only half of my mana pool this might be biting it close to the wire but I'll see it through. Forward.'
The lightning struck out with violent intensity as bolts of blue lightning aimed toward Riné to reclaim the rest of its mana only to be blocked by the grey saber acting as a lightning rod.
"Lightning Magic: Spectre Charge"
Riné charged forward to face the orbs as they evaded the attacks retaliating with a vengeance twofold as arrows similar to the bolts Holless had fired as they cut through the air creating a tearing noise. Attempting to jump out the way with a roll the arrows tore into the shoulder where Riné failed to avoid in time as the orbs stood in watch almost recharging.
'Of course it had to use Holless's arrows this time.'
This method of self-training was the tried and true method for seekers called Self-Hormesis where Seekers released mana from their control to allow it to gain form with the wild mana and test it against themselves creating trials they must take down to absorb back the refined purer mana into their core and advance themselves. This method has several benefits however many risks as well.
'Is that Kenn's explosions?'
The orbs fired down a volley of charged projectiles that switched from light intensity as they rained down in great numbers on Riné's position, and Riné felt no other choice but to withdraw his offense.
"Lightning Magic: Voltage Increase"
Raising his saber he swung his saber across the air preventing the explosions from reaching his proximity as the orbs continued to proliferate in number while Riné's dwindling mana storage seemed to decrease.
'Longer. I must endure longer to allow it to build up. If it grows just a bit more the boons I receive will be great enough to grow a slight bound.'
The explosions seemed to never stop as Riné's saber kept on preventing their fall creating an impenetrable barrier to the orb's ire as they released more and more. Riné didn't falter as the growing number of orbs seemed to cover the area each aiming to take their creator's life. As an orb slipped through the blockade it self-destructed blowing away Riné who used his saber to catch himself into the ground stabbing the platform as dozens of craters from the falling explosives leveled the arena.
'The road to success is filled with obstacles however by facing each and growing from them is how one will reach Emperoralis.'
Riné's saber seemed to radiate blue as the bolts from absorbing the impacts from the orbs charged it, as Riné disappeared from place appearing next to an orb and slicing clean through it. From the corpse of the orb, a lingering trace of mana flew into Riné's core as the concentration of mana increased in his core. An addictive feeling of serotonin and dopamine flowed through his mind as Riné became eager to reap his tribulation however he cut himself off from advancing.
'Not yet. I'll take more than what I can eat and more.'
——
Kairi found himself unable to sleep that night in the dorm room alone, he felt homesick missing his family and getting used to the new bed and environment. It was almost four hours before the early morning entrance ceremony was supposed to begin and Kairi didn't have a wink of sleep and Riné hadn't returned to the dorm room. Just when Kairi had stepped out to grab a fresh breath of air he saw someone shambling outside the dorm building shuffling their leg on the ground as the waning moon illuminated off the student's black hair and azure mix with it growing more clear. Their azure eyes met Kairi's as Kairi rushed forward Riné collapsed into their arms breathing heavily.
"Water…"
"Riné! What happened..?"
Holding Riné he felt something wet as it was blood as their uniform was torn apart in places and charred with the smell of blood eroding all others. Rather than a half-dead man Riné looked satisfied as he grabbed toward the moon in his grasp. As Kairi activated his water magic and allowed Riné to gulp down gulps of fresh water they began to speak.
"Training."
Kairi was concerned over the kind of training one must be doing to obtain injuries of this level to get this injured while the other collapsed from their exhaustion into a deep stupor leaving Kairi a half-exhausted mess dealing with a battered Riné as he dragged the other to their bed leaving them on it while treating some of their worst wounds.
'These burns and cuts…some of them have already cauterized over and the blood hardened from what must have been hours ago? Don't tell me he's been training since the afternoon until morning!'
"Riné what drives you to go to such lengths…"
Kairi moved the strands covering their face to the side as they activated their water magic as water surrounded their body creating a membrane that cleaned away dirt, blood, and sweat allowing them to evade infection. After such a treatment and surprise Kairi instantly collapsed onto his bed as the hours passed in their sleep.
——
"Guys! Guys! We overslept!"
Mime banged on the door awaking Kairi and Riné as the two rubbed their eyes to the sun shining bright out their windows. Bright. Too bright. In their exhaustion, the two overslept while Mime was the only alarm clock they had. Kairi jumped out as he knew he had no time used his water magic to clean and dry his hair rapidly and instantly changed into his uniform while Riné began to look out the window seeing a group of students in rows and columns in a field.
'Oh, that's the student president and the newer students. We're very late.'
Riné began to feel his body ache from the injuries he obtained yesterday as he squinted from the pain in his arms as Kairi placed his arms on his shoulders.
"We don't have enough time Riné I'll do this just pour mana into your uniform!"
As Riné understood the memo he began to repair his memento uniform as Kairi began to wash his hair taking only half a minute for both to be done as they stepped into the hall swing Mime and Keth waiting.
"I told Keth to wake me up but apparently he told me to wake him up so I went back to sleep what about you two?"
Kairi spoke up explaining to Riné and covering for him.
"The beds were so comfortable we overslept unable to wake up…"
Keth however was preoccupied with a bigger issue over the entrance ceremony.
"Do you think if we don't go we'll be in less trouble than going now?"
The four thought over the different possibilities as Mime spoke offering his opinion.
"I don't know if I can handle the embarrassment of being the late ones walking in while everyone's lined up."
Kairi was more concerned with the trouble they would receive as he retorted.
"Who cares about embarrassment didnt they say it was mandatory?"
Riné began to sweat as he felt stressed out over the situation. He didn't want the verbal slap on the wrist or the stares of disapproval for being late as their worries stacked before a person appeared.
"Hey, guys."
"Holless?"
The four looked at him with surprise as they least expected him to not be there already as a special admissions honors program admit.
"I have a broken rib I need to check out today so I'm going to the nurse-"
The four grabbed Holless before hauling him to the nurses as Holless froze in place unaware that the four were using him as a get-out-of-trouble card.
"Don't worry Holless we'll be here as your stretcher buddies!"
Mime led the pack as the students in the entrance ceremony were in sight as the student president gave his speech.
"This will be a monumental time and I implore you to meet new people, try new things, and.."
Out of the corner of his eye, he froze with confusion as he saw Riné, Mime, Kairi, and Keth hailing over their shoulders Holless as the students at the entrance ceremony were confused about why he stopped and turned toward his direction of sight. At that moment all of the eyes in the crowd noticed the five as the realization that what they had done would be less attention grabbing then being late hit their heads.
"Guys I think we somehow got the worst outcome."
Mime felt his ears go red while Keth looked at him scoffing.
"You think?!"
The four shuffled slowly as they moved toward the clinic and the entrance ceremony struggled to continue as the interruption ruined the flow of the event.